As it enters its fifth year, the San Diego International Fringe Festival just keeps getting bigger.

Also, smaller.

Bigger in the sense that the annual celebration of alternative, innovative theater, dance and more just keeps attracting a greater range of artists.

Smaller because this year, one emerging fringe mini-trend is toward shows that aim for an extra level of intimacy — in several cases being performed for a single audience member at a time.

But gleeful contradictions and a deep sense of the unpredictable are at the heart of the Fringe Festival, which begins today and will showcase about 90 acts at 16 venues over the course of its 10-day run.

Most of the shows — which are generally about 45 minutes long — take place downtown. But once again, the festival also has several venues in Tijuana, as well as a few others outside the downtown district, including Balboa Park. (Full venue, artist and show information is available on the fest’s website at sdfringe.org.)

As in years past, the festival will host a free Family Fringe event; this year’s edition takes place Sunday at the City Heights Performance Annex (at 3795 Fairmount Ave.), and will include a variety of crafts, workshops, live performances and other family-minded activities.

The fest is also again hosting an Emerging Fringe competition for students, with cash scholarships and an opportunity to participate in the July 2 finals at the Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway, downtown. (Last year’s winner, Ashley Yang, will see her full-length show “Desire” performed in this year’s festival.)

All ticket proceeds from the fest, which is produced by Contact Arts in partnership with the Actors Alliance of San Diego, go straight to the artists, which helps make it an indispensable incubator for works in development.

Although San Diego Fringe has become such a sprawling phenomenon that it’s impossible to spotlight everything, here’s a look at a half-dozen shows that will be part of the event’s mad mix. (Quoted material is provided by Fringe organizers.)

Courtesy San Diego International Fringe Festival

Theatre Group Gumbo's "Are You Lovin' It?"

Theatre Group Gumbo's "Are You Lovin' It?" (Courtesy San Diego International Fringe Festival)

“Are You Lovin’ It?” Theatre Group GUMBO: Part cabaret act, part play, part performance art, this piece (true to its Japan-based creators' name) promises to be a spicy stew of some pretty weird ingredients. “GUMBO’s work is frantic, high energy, grotesque and full of black humor. Through aggressive direction, they expose the lies and truth of contemporary living, tempered only by laughing which hovers disturbingly between the ecstatic and hysterical.” 7:30 p.m. June 27 and 29; 9 p.m. June 30 and July 1; 2:30 p.m. July 2. Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza, Gaslamp Quarter.

“That 24 Hour Thing,” Logan Squared Productions: A fest favorite returns — and once again dives into redefining the meaning of “new” work. “Six playwrights each have 24 hours to write a 10-minute play. Then, six directors and 18 actors have eight hours to rehearse each play before the curtain goes up. In its fourth year, this annual Fringe event has become a wildly popular, delightfully unpredictable theatrical ride.” (Free.) 6:30 p.m. July 2. San Diego Central Library’s Neil Morgan Auditorium, 330 Park Blvd., downtown.

“Into the Walker Woods,” Turning Tydes Theatre Company: One of the standouts of last year’s fest was “The Phantom of the Empire: Return of the Opera,” an inspired mash-up of “Star Wars” and a certain long-running musical. Now the company behind that show returns with this comically macabre marriage of the Sondheim musical “Into the Woods” and the zombie-minded “The Walking Dead.” As the tagline has it: “We may be going into the woods, but we aren’t going to Granny’s.” 6 p.m. June 23 and July 1; 10 p.m. June 24; 9 p.m. June 25; 4 p.m. June 30. Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza, Gaslamp Quarter.

“Sweet Dreams: The Prologue,” Shine On Collective: This immersive piece from the L.A.-based Shine On has an intriguing twist; it’s designed to be experienced by only one audience member at a time. The collective describes its show as “the first chapter in a series of immersive productions about a girl who dreamed of Prince Charming and true love’s kiss. But venture too far into dreams and you might end up missing.” Performances every 15 minutes starting at 7:45 p.m., June 30 to July 2. (Check website for more specifics.) Meet in front of Fringe box office at 923 First Ave., downtown.

“Out to Lunch,” New Play Cafe: The San Diego company explores site-specific work with this series of world-premiere short plays, “designed to fit the confines and clientele of Panera Bread in Horton Plaza.” The setup includes “a ‘short-order playwright’ who will write a short play for one lucky patron.” 7 p.m. June 23-25, 28-30 and July 1. Panera Bread, 225 Broadway, downtown.

“Specific Gravity,” Circus Collective of San Diego: The locally based troupe aims to “create original shows which blur the lines between circus and contemporary theater.” Its latest piece is “a multidisciplinary performance-art project that fuses contemporary circus art, physics and spoken-word poetry and narrative to explore the experiences of forcibly displaced persons and how they adapt to their place of resettlement.” 6 p.m. June 23 and 27; 4 p.m. June 25; 9 p.m. June 28; 7:30 p.m. June 29. Lyceum Stage, 79 Horton Plaza, Gaslamp Quarter.